Surgery

A construction accident left 39 year old dad Jeffrey Bowden facing amputation of all five fingers, but an amazing microsurgery saved his hand.

New York, NY

– December 27, 2013 ––

By now we've heard many stories of legs, arms and hands being reattached, but fingers are much harder. Bones, blood vessels and nerves are that much smaller. Even tougher is to get the intricate tendons, pulleys and joints in fingers to work again. Bowden was transferred to Mount Sinai for a hand-saving operation, but that was more than nine hours after the accident. "Because it was delayed it made surgery more difficult and complicated," said Philip Torina, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital. The 10-and-a-half hour procedure was made possible partly because Bowden's original doctors had kept his fingers in ice. "We were able to reconnect his index finger with microsurgery, re-vascularize the finger, fix all the bone injuries and skin injuries as well," Torina said. Bowden told Gomez on Friday he's started intensive physical therapy, working to carefully flex his reattached fingers. It's too early to tell for sure, but he said he's hopeful he'll regain nearly full use of his hand. Learn more